Wednesday, January 31, 2007

When the head of the Catholic Church in England asks whether British society is turning against religion, it is sure no ordinary SOS. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster wrote in an opinion piece in the London Times last November that religion has become a controversial topic and that news headlines of terrorist attacks in the name of religious ideology and even natural disasters are fueling pro-secular sentiment.

“Shallow multiculturalism that fails to appreciate the basis of culture in faith leads us away from social cohesion,” he wrote, adding that true multiculturalism isn’t about “banishing faith from the public square, but about admitting new varieties of faith and inviting them to join the public conversation and valuing what they have to say.”

The rise of secularism in Britain is evident in many examples, such as the best-selling The God Delusion by atheist Richard Dawkins, the government proposal for faith schools to start accepting nonbelievers and the current fight between the government and the church over facilitating adoptions to same-sex couples.

Other examples include British Airways’ suspension of an employee after she refused to remove a small cross necklace and a member of Parliament causing outrage within the Muslim community for saying he preferred that Muslim women not wear a veil when speaking to him.

Fear Of Faith

The increased resistance to religion has made some Catholics fearful of how others will react if they show their faith, particularly in the workplace, Father Shaun Church, assistant pastor at St Monica’s Catholic Church in north London, told Our Sunday Visitor.

Although they bear witness to the Catholic faith in their own way, it can be very hard to do so. “It’s a dilemma. Religion has been in the news a lot in the past year, and now people are a little bit sensitive about it,” Father Church said.

Britons are no longer living their lives according to Christian values and beliefs, which is why Cardinal O’Connor spoke out, said Bishop John Arnold, an auxiliary of the Westminster Diocese.

The cardinal also called on Catholics to stand up for their beliefs, he said.

“So we need to be speaking out about what we do believe to preserve an important fabric of our society,” Bishop Arnold told Our Sunday Visitor.

He gave other examples of how Britain is turning secular. These include legislation put before Parliament to legalize assisted suicide, ease restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research and secular campaigns to remove religion from the Christmas holiday.

Declining AttendanceBritons also are going church less. In 1980, 6 million people – 11 percent of the population – in England, Scotland and Wales said they attended church services, according to the London think tank Christian Research. In 2005, that figure had declined to 4 million, or 7 percent of the population. The English Church Census of 1989 showed that teenagers were tearing away from worship. The same held true in 1998, when studies showed 10- to-14-year-olds were leaving the church in droves.

But the exodus is leveling out, thanks to immigrants moving in. A spokesperson for Christian Research said that youth outreach also helped slow the exodus from the church.

About 1 million people left the church between 1989 and 1998, but from 1998 to 2005 only 500,000 did. Christian Research credits this to the rise in ethnic minority churchgoers, especially African and Polish immigrants. In inner-city London, 44 percent of churchgoers are now black.

And ever since Poland, the land of Pope John Paul II, joined the European Union in 2004, Catholic worship in Britain has been given a huge boost. Devout young Poles are filling out congregations that were formerly waning.

Pope Agrees

The growing secularization and subsequent threat to religious expression in Britain is an example of what Pope Benedict XVI has made an important focus of his papacy. Until recently, his focus has been more on mainland Europe; but Great Britain, now that it is part of the European Union, is equally under threat.

In a December general audience, Pope Benedict said some societies are no longer looking for the savior.

“One has the feeling that many consider God as foreign to their own interests. Apparently, they do not need him,” he said. “They live as though he did not exist and, worse still, as though he were an ‘obstacle’ to remove in order to fulfill themselves, he said, adding that at the same time they seek “a path of renewal, of salvation.”

Cardinal O’Connor is calling Catholics in England to engage the public square in matters of faith and let their voices be heard.

“I am becoming tired of the mockery of those who seem to regard faith communities, especially Christian ones, as intrusive and contrary to the common good. I label them ‘Christophobic,’” the cardinal wrote to the Times. “They wish to close off every voice and contribution other than their own.”

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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland: Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams called Wednesday on Catholic witnesses to a killing committed by Irish Republican Army members to tell police what they saw — a stunning reversal of policy over one of Northern Ireland's most politically sensitive killings.

Adams' plea came just three days after a special conference of his IRA-linked party voted to begin supporting the Police Service of Northern Ireland for the first time — and on the same day that all Northern Ireland parties began campaigning for a crucial March 7 election in this British territory.

Sinn Féin, already the major Catholic-backed party, is hoping to build its strength in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the legislature that is supposed to form a Catholic-Protestant administration following the vote.

Sinn Féin and the IRA suffered international criticism over their handling of the Jan. 30, 2005, killing of a 33-year-old Catholic man, Robert McCartney, outside a Belfast pub. The case highlighted the IRA's practice of controlling Catholic districts and intimidating people from turning to the police.

McCartney was stabbed and clubbed to death by senior IRA figures from the outlawed group's main east Belfast unit. The fight began in front of scores of witnesses, many of them Sinn Féin activists. But witnesses refused to talk to police, instead offering statements to their own lawyers, Catholic priests or other intermediaries and claiming they saw nothing.

The case gained worldwide attention, largely, because the victim's fiancee and four sisters went public with their accusations that Sinn Féin was shielding killers from prosecution.

The IRA initially denied involvement, then admitted some of its members were responsible — and offered to have two members, but not the unit's powerful commander, shot in punishment.At the time, Adams said Sinn Féin members should not be expected to talk to the police, who were the IRA's opponents during the group's failed 1970-97 campaign to force Northern Ireland into the neighboring Irish Republic.

But on Wednesday, Adams said times had suddenly changed.

"Anybody who has any information on the McCartney killing should give it to the police," he said.

The McCartney family welcomed Adams' call, but said they feared that an air of intimidation and obstruction was likely to remain. They noted that just one person had been charged with the murder, but more than a dozen IRA and Sinn Féin members were suspected of involvement in the attack and the clean-up of forensic evidence afterward.

And a politician who has championed the family's cause, Alasdair McDonnell, accused Sinn Féin of not meaning what it says.

"The acid test for Sinn Féin is to actually live up to the spin they have put on their newfound belief in the rule of law," said McDonnell, deputy leader of Sinn Féin's moderate rival for Catholic votes, the Social Democratic and Labour Party.

"Unfortunately for Sinn Fein's new perspective on policing, there are still far too many unanswered questions in relation to the action of its membership in some of the most horrific crimes carried out in Northern Ireland," McDonnell said, referring to the IRA careers of many Sinn Féin activists.

The McCartney family's campaign created huge diplomatic difficulties for Sinn Féin, particularly among Irish-American supporters, at a time when the party was already on the defensive over the IRA's alleged massive robbery of a Belfast bank.

The IRA's involvement in crime, and Sinn Féin's hostility to the police, became the central issue in the peace process — and culminated in the policy U-turn this week.

Adams in 2005 was dumped from many St. Patrick's Day functions in Washington, normally a time when Sinn Féin makes diplomatic gains. Instead, President Bush and key U.S. senators — Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy and John McCain — made the McCartneys their guest and publicly backed their demands for justice. Adams also suffered restrictions on his ability to raise U.S. funds.

But once the St. Patrick's Day spotlight faded, Belfast intimidation of the McCartneys resumed, ranging from phoned death threats to bomb hoaxes. In October 2005 they abandoned their family home in Short Strand, a Catholic district where some of the IRA killers were their nearby neighbours, citing fears that they or their children could be wounded or killed.

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

This morning (Wednesday 31st January) I was watching Ireland AM programme on TV3, an independent television station here in Ireland and they ran an interview with the pro and con side of the gay adoption issue here in Ireland.

Much and all as I am in favour of free speech and the right to express such in this country, when it comes to blatant arrogance and ignorance...well no excuse can be made for that nor should it be entertained.

Whenever the person on the pro side wished to make a very practical and easily understood, the con 'bully' interrupted and attempted to denigrate it all...even lobbing in the Bible also so that we all know that gays are evil and contrary to God.

I think he needs check in with God because I certainly do not believe for one moment in a God that would make us all as we are and then allow His name to be used to condemn and discriminate.

In all of this, whether here or across the waters, one thing seems to have been forgotten and that is the children themselves and yet again, the selfishness of adults more concerned about themselves comes forth. a little bit of calm is required in all of this, respect and pure simple cop-on also.

For those who discrimiante, not just in general and especially in this situation, you would do well to remember that God made us all in our own individual way for a plan only known to Him, and would not have wished for us to be insulted, hurt, discriminated or abused in any way, shape or form by others.

He did give us also free will and choice so He cannot be blamed for the arrogance and ignorance of those who do not wish to make themselves more aware of the reality that is life for each and all of us.

Not until anyone has walked in my shoes shall I allow them to condemn me or otherwise...and in all of this there is a lesson for all....and it comes from the Gospel of St John

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!!!!

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Earlier, the Irish and British governments welcomed the latest report by the Independent Monitoring Commission which said the IRA remained committed to following a political path.

The IMC gave an upbeat assessment of how the IRA had abandoned terrorism and violence.However, while the report stressed the IRA no longer sanctioned criminality, it noted some individuals continued to be involved in fuel laundering, smuggling and tax evasion.

Mr Ahern welcomed what he described as the 'positive and significant' comments made by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams yesterday about support for the PSNI.

The Sinn Féin President indicated he will be urging his constituents to start giving practical on-the-ground support to the PSNI.

He said there should be 'no equivocation, no qualifications and no conditions' on the issue of support for the police when dealing with crimes against the people.

The Vatican has invited President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania to be the guest of honour at an annual general meeting that will involve religious leaders from different sects in the world.

The invitation was presented to President Kikwete by a special envoy of the Vatican, Mario Giro, when he met President Kikwete here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the President is attending the 8th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union that ends today. Giro told President Kikwete that the Vatican, which organizes the meeting every year, always invites political leaders to discuss issues and this time around, the Vatican has decided to invite the President of Tanzania.

He said the reason for inviting President Kikwete was his stance on implementation of policies that encouraged Tanzanians to live in unity, respect and tolerance in spite of their religious beliefs. `Tanzania and Tanzanians are tolerant in their basic principles of religion, a policy which was initiated by the father of the nation Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, and you Mr President, still implements them. That is why the Vatican has decided to invite you as our chief guest,` said Giro.

The meeting will take place in Nepal, Italy on October 21, 2007. President Kikwete has accepted the invitation. The AGM was established 20 years ago by Pope John Paul II, with an objective of gathering leaders to discuss important issues that touched on their religion beliefs and emphasise cooperation and tolerance.

Meanwhile, the Unesco director general, Koichiro Matsuura, has also invited President Jakaya Kikwete to officially open the organisation?s Annual General Meeting on October 22 in Paris.

The Unesco chief issued the invitation when he met President Kikwete in Addis Ababa. Kikwete has accepted the invitation.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Members of the Orthodox-Catholic working group working at strengthening ties between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches reaffirmed that proselytizing among the Orthodox Christians was unacceptable, said a representative of the Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate.

”It was reconfirmed that all statements, which the Catholic Church itself had adopted on a high level, should form a basis for further development of Orthodox-Catholic cooperation, removal of existing problems and restoration of good relationships,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin(pic'd alongside), the patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations’ deputy head and the working group co-chairman, told Interfax.

The Jan. 26 meeting, which was the fifth for the group, also reflected on the ”Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism” recently reprinted by the Holy See’s nunciature to the Russian Federation.

”The group members expressed their hope that this document’s norms, which exclude proselytism among the Orthodox Christians, shall ever be a firm basis for development of relationships between the two churches,” the meeting’s official final report said.

A number of other issues concerning mixed marriages, Catholic orphanages active in Russia and the Roman Catholic Church’s pastoral and social structures in Russia were also discussed.‘We ought to cooperate more and better in those Catholic orphanages, where they have Orthodox children. Sometimes this cooperation goes well, sometimes it does not, and then it needs to step up,’ Father Chaplin said.

The working group members also affirmed their commitment to be more active studying local situations and expressed mutual interest for developing relationships between the two churches for the benefit of their believers and all people of the European continent.

‘It is important that we can find common points in many issues connected with the need to witness for Christ in the modern world. In this sphere our positions completely agree,” said Father Igor Kowalewski, secretary of the Russian Conference of Catholic Bishops and working group’s other co-chairman, told Interfax.

”Our joint group has already brought forth positive results and has been appreciated by the hierarchs of the both Churches, in particular by (Russian Orthodox) Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and by the head of the (Vatican) Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity Cardinal Walter Kasper,” he said.

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Two American men are calling for the prosecution of a former Victorian priest, Paul Ryan, who is already serving a prison sentence in Australia for indecent assault, over offences alleged to have occurred while he was serving at a US parish.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that the two men claim to have been abused while Ryan was at Star of the Sea parish, Virginia Beach, on the US east coast.Fr Ryan, 60, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in September by a Warrnambool, Victoria court after pleading guilty to five counts of indecent assault of two teenage boys in that country.

The two Virginia Beach men were teenagers at Star of the Sea parish school when Ryan was in Virginia.The men, whose names were not disclosed, spoke to The Virginian-Pilot late last year after learning of the Australian prosecution. They recently declined to comment further, saying they had been asked by Virginia Beach police not to talk publicly about their allegations. A police spokeswoman confirmed the department was investigating the men's abuse complaint.

Ryan worked as an assistant priest at Star of the Sea during the 1977-78 and 1978-79 school years, according to Australian police documents.Australian police interviewed the two men and one other former pupil at Star of the Sea last year as witnesses in the criminal investigation of Ryan.

The three told Australian investigators that Ryan performed sexual acts on them when they were 14 and 15 years old. The abuse is alleged to have occurred in the Star of the Sea rectory and in the home of one teen whose parents were away.

The three former students said Ryan also provided them with alcohol and marijuana. One of the two men who talked to the Pilot said Ryan abused him 12 times, while the other said he was abused once.

Ryan, who was ordained in Australia in 1976, had been sent by Catholic officials to the US for treatment of homosexual behaviour toward other seminary students, according to the Australian police investigation.

An Australian police investigator said another person who claims to have been abused by Ryan in Australia has come forward since the conviction was reported in here.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Scottish Church officials say that they are prepared to break the law but will not close down Catholic adoption agencies after a Blair government refusal to exempt them from complying with proposed new rules allowing gay adoption.

The Scotsman reports that the Church has also vowed to create "gay rights martyrs" if the gay rights laws are passed.Instead of closing down Church adoption agencies as mooted previously, the agencies plan to deliberately break the law in order to bring a case to court.

The Church believes it could then challenge a guilty verdict through Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, which upholds the freedom of religious expression, the Scotsman says."We will not shut down the agencies. We will carry on working until someone takes us to court for breaking the law," a spokesman for the Church told the paper.

"There would then be a case where one of our agencies would be found guilty of breaking the law and would be put out of business.""We believe there is an opportunity for a judicial review on the grounds that compelling people to act against their religious beliefs contravenes Article 9 of the ECHR."

The plan follows a similar challenge brought against the government in Northern Ireland, where the act has already been introduced. Brought by the Christian Institute, the bid will go ahead in March, in an attempt to topple the regulations in the Province.The Church is now also warning of other examples where its members may find themselves breaking the new legislation. Once passed, the Equality Act, will ban any discrimination in the provision of services on grounds of sexuality."We will see priests prosecuted for saying they are not renting the hall for a same-sex celebration," the spokesman added.Reuters quoted Prime Minister Blair as saying that the adoption agencies will be granted a transition period, until the end of next year, to adjust to the new law, he said.

"Everyone is agreed that, above all, the interests of the child and particularly the most vulnerable children, must come first," Blair said in a statement."I believe we have now found a way through that achieves this and which all reasonable people will be able to support."But he also insisted that he supports "the right of gay couples to apply to adopt like any other couple".The UK Telegraph quoted Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor as expressing disappointment.

However, the British church head endorsed Mr Blair's desire to ensure that adoption expertise in the Catholic sector was transferred to secular agencies, rather than being lost altogether."It is clear from the Prime Minister's statement that he has listened to some of the concerns of the Catholic Church in regard to its adoption agencies," he said.

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Opening a seminar on the social doctrine of the Church, a Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace official has identified three main weaknesses of the Catholic world, including loss of identity, lack of understanding on bioethical issues and failure to promote Catholic social doctrine.

"We have all endured many difficult periods in our recent history," said Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi (pic'd here) at the seminar on 20 January, sponsored by the Italian episcopal conference according to a Zenit report.

"We have not always succeeded, despite the careful guidance of the magisterium, in resisting leaps forward, partisan interpretations and the weakening of our identity.

"A theology of the separation between faith and politics has been alternating with a theology of direct engagement, while, at the same time and almost undetected, a culture of agnosticism and relativism was advancing, becoming imposing and almost dictatorial, striking the very heart of the Christian message and radically hindering its reception."

Bishop Crepaldi contended: "Once we lose sight of the fact that man is capax veritatis, it is impossible to think that he can be capax Dei".According to the prelate, the current Catholic challenge is to reflect in depth on "our own roots because the anthropological question has now become the social question.""We will not be able to make a valid contribution to the common good," he said, "unless we expand the culture of life, from bioethics and beyond bioethics, and succeed in making it a true social and political culture."

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society (NSS), has claimed that Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, is making false claims about the impact of the government’s refusal to exempt the Church from anti-discrimination legislation.

NSS also says that the adoption issue shows that churches are making a bid to be above the law which raises serious questions about their fitness to run public services. His view is in contrast to Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who says that the issue is about what limits the state accepts, if any, on its ability to determine the actions of voluntary bodies.In a statement released yesterday (30 January 2007)

Mr Porteous Wood said: “The Cardinal claimed that the government was stopping the Church from continuing with its adoption agencies. This is simply not true. They can continue, but without public money. What the Cardinal is demanding is that the government continue to subsidise discrimination in a way that will be against the law for everyone else and that the vast majority of the public — including many Catholics in the pews — find abhorrent.”He continued: “They are demanding that they be given taxpayers’ money to act in a way that parliament forbids, simply because they consider it is against their ‘conscience’. What the Cardinal calls ‘conscience’, others would call ‘bigotry’. And if they are not allowed to do just as they please, they have once more made threats to withdraw charitable services under their control.”

Echoing claims that the Catholic Church, backed by three of the four most senior clerics in the Church of England, may be seeing its tactics seriously backfire in the ongoing debate about public provision, Mr Porteous Wood added: “The Cardinal could not have demonstrated to the nation more clearly the danger of handing over welfare to religious bodies.”He said: “This saga should be a wake up call to the Government on faith-based welfare, which is slated to be a massive growth area under both New Labour and the Conservatives. If the churches are happy to openly blackmail the government on this issue, when there are only a few small adoption agencies involved, imagine the pressure religious bodies will be able to exert when they have a significant proportion of the welfare system under their control.”

The National Secular Society also questions the logic of the Church’s position on the details of adoption. “The Cardinal is keen to say how important the ‘complementarity’ of heterosexuals are to be parents, but what he declines to say is that even if gay parents were available, and the best parents available, he would prefer the children were left in care. Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols [has] admitted that Catholic adoption agencies sometimes select gay single parent adopters… if such a single foster parent entered into a civil partnership, and formed a potentially stable relationship, she or he would [presumably] have to give up the child back into care.”Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, responding to the government’s offer of a 21-month adaptation period for Catholic agencies, but no exemption, said: “What we’d most want to do is to disentangle two things. There’s a particular issue on which the Catholic Church has taken a stand, as other Christians have; and there’s a general issue about the rights of the state and the rights of conscience especially in voluntary bodies. That second question is one that, I think, is by no means restricted to this issue.”

He continued: “I would like to see some more serious debate now about that particular question – what are the limits, if there are limits, to the state’s power to control and determine the actions of voluntary bodies within it, in pursuit of what are quite proper goals of non-discrimination.”According to Catholic leaders, the refusal of the government to allow an exemption from Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) due to be implemented in April 2007 amounts to discrimination against religion. But Mr Porteous Wood takes a very different view.He said: “Claims by the Cardinal that religion is being disadvantaged in this country are patently ridiculous. Churches receive hundreds of millions of pounds of state money each year; have representation in the House of Lords as of right; run a third of the education system; have hundreds of representatives in hospitals, armed forces, colleges and prisons paid from the public purse; and receive huge tax advantages, such as VAT concessions and tax subsidies on collections.

How any faith leader can argue that they are disadvantaged is beyond me. What they object to is being required to follow the same anti-discrimination requirement as everyone else.”Some other faith groups have taken a different view of the adoption row. Yesterday the evangelical Faithworks movement, itself a significant service provider, reiterated its support for legislation outlawing discrimination against lesbian and gay people, saying that fair provision in the public arena was distinct from the approval or disapproval of particular lifestyles by religious or other bodies. It said that the rights of those receiving state-supported services came ahead of the demands of those providing them.

Alastair McBay, of the National Secular Society in Scotland, observed in today's Herald newspaper: " This is not just a battle between secular and religious doctrine. Credit is due to the many religious believers in the pews and in the denominational hierarchies who have courageously spoken out against the stand their leaders are taking, and who will be dismissive of calls from them to vote as instructed come election time. This is as much a battle for conscience within the faiths, as between the faiths and the secular world."

A donation to the Vatican by a US businessman enabled Pope Benedict XVI to peruse a few pages of the oldest existing copy of the Gospel of St. Luke and one of the oldest copies of the Gospel of St. John.

The Catholic businessman, Frank J. Hanna III, and his family were present in the pope's library 22 January when Pope Benedict got his first look at pages from the famous Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV.

Hanna is the Atlanta-based chief executive officer of HBR Capital Ltd., an investment management company, and co-chairman of President George W. Bush's Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's archivist and librarian, presented both the papyrus and the Hanna family to the pope.

The Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV, handwritten in Greek around the year 200, contains ‘about half of each of the Gospels of Luke and John,’ Cardinal Tauran explained.

‘With this new precious papyrus, the library of the pope possesses the most ancient witness of the Gospel of Luke and among the most ancient of the Gospel of John,’ he said.

For the presentation, Cardinal Tauran and his staff brought only a few pages of the papyrus to the papal apartment.

He invited the pope to ‘come in person to the library to meditate, if I may say so, in front of that which can be considered a true relic, given that the church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord.’

Claudio Piazzoni, vice-prefect of the Vatican Library, said last week that the new acquisition includes the oldest existing copy of the Lord's Prayer, which is found in Luke 11:1-4.The new acquisitions join the Bodmer Papyrus VIII, a copy of the First and Second Letters of St. Peter, which Martin Bodmer personally gave to Pope Paul VI in 1969.

Bodmer died in 1971, entrusting his vast library to a foundation he established. The Gospel texts were acquired from the Bodmer Foundation in Cologny, Switzerland.

Piazzoni said he had no idea how much money was involved in the transaction, although it must have been ‘significant.’

The day after the papal presentation, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano dedicated a full page to the manuscripts.

Before the Bodmer documents were discovered in Egypt in 1952, it said, biblical scholars relied on references to the Gospels in the writings of the early church theologians to assert that by the year 100 the Christian community had accepted only four Gospels as inspired texts.

The Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV, containing the last two Gospels, the newspaper said, provides concrete evidence that the four Gospels were circulating among Christian communities as a complete set by the year 200, although the twin papyrus containing the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark has not been found.

The Vatican took possession of the papyrus in late November and already new discoveries about it have been made, the Vatican newspaper said.

The Bodmer Foundation commissioned a transcription and facsimile of the text in 1961, and 13 years later researchers discovered that at least one fragment had not been transcribed and reproduced.

In the last few months, the Vatican Library's experts have been working to restore the rough binding, which they believe was placed as a protective covering around the papyrus in the early 300s, when the text was already too fragile to use in the liturgy.

The binding was made of layers of parchment and paste and, in restoring it, the newspaper said, new fragments from the external pages of the text itself were discovered.

‘The research on an ancient manuscript can never be said to be finished,’ L'Osservatore said.

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican newspaper denounced an Italian journalist who posed as a penitent and confessed fake sins in order to write an expose on the sacrament of reconciliation."Fake confessions in search of a shameful scoop," the newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, headlined a commentary condemning the cover story of L'Espresso magazine, one of the country's leading weeklies."Shame!

There is no other word to express our distress toward an operation that was disgusting, worthless, disrespectful and particularly offensive," the newspaper said.The commentary said the article had exploited the good faith of confessors and offended the religious sentiments of millions of people."It was a sacrilege, because it violated the sacred space in which a self-recognized sinner asks intimately to receive God's merciful love," it said.

The reporter made his false confessions to 24 different priests in five Italian cities, including Rome. The magazine said the idea was to see how priests handle difficult pastoral situations and whether they followed the strict norms laid out by church teaching.The reporter, for example, told two priests he was HIV-positive and wondered whether he should use a condom when having sexual relations with his girlfriend. One told him no, and the other said it was a question of conscience, the magazine reported.

More than once, the magazine said, priests gave quite different advice on his supposed "sins," which included matters relating to homosexuality, divorce, stem-cell research, euthanasia and prostitution.One issue that found unanimous condemnation by confessors was abortion, the magazine said.

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Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

After a 3-hour negotiating session with Israeli diplomats, representatives of the Holy See reported “some progress” toward a pact ensuring the legal and financial status of Church institutions in Israel.

The discussions held January 29 represented the first negotiating session this year; the last such talks took place in December 2006, and produced no substantial progress.

Vatican officials have been frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations on a juridical-financial pact: an agreement that was promised under the terms of the “fundamental accord” that led to Israel in 1993. Israeli officials had virtually abandoned the talks, and returned to the negotiating table in 2004 only under heavy diplomatic pressure from the United States.

Since that time, Israeli diplomats have repeatedly said that an agreement is imminent, while Vatican representatives have been less optimistic about the prospects for a quick accord.After this week’s talks, Archbishop Antonio Franco, the apostolic nuncio in Israel, remained cautious about the outlook for an agreement. “The media often speak of Israeli sources, and the will to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” he observed. “In reality, it appears that this objective is still far away.”

Father David Jaeger, a Franciscan priest who has been involved in the negotiations, told Vatican Radio that the January 29 talks took place in “an atmosphere of great cordiality.” But he, too, refrained from predicting success.

The next negotiating session is scheduled to take place in Rome. That meeting, Father Jaeger said, will “tell us what we need to know” about the likelihood of an accord.

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Stefano Gabbana, of Dolce&Gabbana fame, has rounded on the Vatican for trying to stop Italian gay and lesbian people getting equal rights.

The designer, in an interview with newspaper La Stampa, argued that the Roman Catholic church is trying to fight against love itself.Mr Gabbana was the sexual as well as design partner of Domenico Dolce for 19 years. In 2005 they announced the end of their relationship. The pair continue their internationally successful fashion collaboration.

Their Milan-based company is worth £350m and their brand is a household name.44-year-old Mr Gabbana said that the Catholic hierarchy, "fights every day against those who in its opinion cast doubt on the traditional concept of the family."Italy is debating whether gay couples should get legal recognition after ministers in the leftist coalition government of Romano Prodi drafted a bill that would create a form of civil partnership.

The eleven political parties that form the coalition range from communists to greens, but with such a broad spectrum of opinion represented there have already been disagreements about the proposed new law. "The de facto family should also be protected," said Mr Gabbana. He also said he did not understand, "as a Catholic, the church's fight against love."Pope Benedict XVI has been trenchant in his opposition to more rights for gay people. He claims that granting gay and lesbian couples legal protection and recognition is a threat to heterosexual marriage.Earlier this month he called any form of union other than marriage, "dangerous and counterproductive."

Dolce&Gabbana's designs are particularly popular with movie stars. Ayumi Hamasaki, Isabella Rossellini, Mrs Guy Richie and Kylie Minogue are all customers of the design duo.In February 2005, they announced the end of personal relationship."On a professional level, we are still together," Domenico Dolce told Corriere della Sera newspaper at the time."We work together wonderfully well, we have a very strong understanding. What happens in the past is still there, it continues and will continue forever. We have a very strong love which ties us to each other."

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair was set to call a March election in Northern Ireland on Tuesday after Irish nationalists ended decades of opposition to the province's police force.

An election would send a clear signal Blair believes he is on track to meet his March 26 deadline for restoring a regional assembly where Protestant unionists and the mostly Catholic nationalists would share power in the British-ruled province.

The Belfast-based assembly was central to a 1998 peace deal that largely ended 30 years of conflict in which 3,600 people died. But it has been suspended since 2002 despite repeated efforts by London and Dublin to end a political stalemate."It is expected that the Prime Minister will this evening announce an election for March 7," a British government source told Reuters ahead of a meeting in London between Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern.

British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain said a report on paramilitary groups issued by an Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) on Tuesday left no doubt London could soon hand back powers over day-to-day affairs to Belfast."This report removes the final, major impediment to the restoration of stable and lasting devolution in Northern Ireland," Hain said in a statement.The IMC earlier added to mounting praise for nationalist party Sinn Fein, which wants a united Ireland, after its members voted on Sunday to stop opposing a law and order system it has long seen as biased in favour of the majority Protestants."The decision ... was a major step forward, reached because of the commitment and efforts of the Sinn Fein leadership," the IMC said of the Irish Republican Army's political ally.

Mitchell Reiss, U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland, also hailed the "historic" move but pinpointed a key obstacle to power-sharing when he called on unionists, who want to keep ties to Britain, to clearly signal readiness to work with Sinn Fein.The biggest pro-British grouping, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has yet to commit to London and Dublin's deadline for restoring power-sharing, saying it wants to see concrete proof of Sinn Fein's support for law and order.A spokesman for Blair, who wants to see a Northern Ireland settlement before he leaves office later this year, said calls from Sinn Fein leaders encouraging cooperation with the police were a "significant advance" but accepted more may be needed.

"I think (DUP leader) Dr (Ian) Paisley has publicly acknowledged there has been some progress, he has also said he wants to see words translated into action," the spokesman said.

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The Catholic hierarchy in the United Kingdom is facing serious questions today following Prime Minister Tony Blair’s declaration last night that Catholic adoption agencies in the United Kingdom will not be exempt from a new law requiring them to provide children for homosexual couples.

While the Church in England and Wales has announced its disappointment at the decision, Scotland’s Catholic hierarchy has already declared that it will not close its adoption programs without a fight. Blair’s cabinet made the decision late yesterday to deny the request of the Catholic Church for an exemption from a law that would require all adoption agencies in the U.K. to place children with homosexual couples.

The Roman Catholic Church holds that homosexual lifestyles spring from an intrinsically disordered desire and that as such, a household led by a homosexual couple is not a healthy place for the raising of children.While the Catholic Church of England and Wales forewarned that the decision to require Catholic agencies to provide adoption services to homosexuals would result in their closing, Archbishop Mario Conti, speaking for the Church in Scotland, has insinuated that the Church plans on fighting the decision.

Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow and Vice-president of the Scottish Bishops Conference said late last week that agencies would continue to work as normal, and that it would be the government that forced them to close by not allowing them to work within their conscience. The archbishop admitted that, "Catholic adoption agencies would be unlikely to retain registration, given that they would be unable to comply with the proposed regulations."

A spokesman for the Church in Scotland has said that the Church may have legal ground for fighting the regulations. “We believe there is an opportunity for a judicial review on the grounds that compelling people to act against their religious beliefs contravenes Article 9,” he said according to Lifesite.com Article 9 of the Human Rights Act affirms the right of freedom of religious expression.

Nonetheless, Peter Kearney, the Catholic Church's spokesman in Scotland, conceded to the Daily Record that ultimately the agencies will be forced to close, saying, "It is impossible to see how a Catholic adoption agency could remain in business. This is a full-scale assault on religious belief.But, he added, "It is not just a Catholic Church issue. It affects anyone who has a belief that says homosexuals are not on a par and should not be equated with heterosexual marriage.”"Anyone who holds that belief could be in a position where they break the law."

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Bishops Conference of England and Wales, echoed Kearney’s sentiments, expressing his dismay this morning that the Church’s beliefs will now be subject to legal action for discrimination, "We are, of course, deeply disappointed that no exemption will be granted to our agencies on the grounds of widely held religious beliefs," he said."This debate has raised crucial issues for the common good of our society,” the Cardinal added. "We believe there is an urgent task to reach a new consensus on how best the public role of religious organizations can be safeguarded and their rights upheld."

The Catholic position had also been backed by leaders of the Church of England as well as some Muslim clerics."The freedom of conscience cannot be made subject to legislation, however well meaning," the Archbishop of York John Sentamu told the British Broadcasting Corp.Sentamu, whose church has ordained homosexual priests and allows them to marry so long as they refrain from sex, said he opposes all forms of discrimination."But when you overlegislate and intervene too much in people's private lives, I think in the long run you end up with a statute being used to cure all ills, which it cannot.”

The Catholic Church in Scotland, England, and Wales now has 21 months to either close its adoption agencies or face legal action for non-compliance.

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A leading historian of World War II has just published a book which documents the action of the Church and Pope Pius XII in rescuing Jews from Nazi persecution.

Sir Martin Gilbert's "I Giusti, gli eroi sconosciuti dell’Olocausto" (The Righteous, Unknown Heroes of the Holocaust) was published by Città Nuova and presented in Rome last Wednesday.

Gilbert, 70, is a professor of the history of the Holocaust at University College, London, and the author of 72 books. Known as the official biographer of Winston Churchill, he was knighted in 1995 for his service to British history and international relations. The presentation ceremony enabled top Holy See representatives, historians and Jewish representatives to hear the conclusions of the Jewish author.

This book says that the "'righteous' … are those non-Jewish men and women throughout Europe who broke the chains of indifference, egoism and individualism and saved a great number of Jews from Nazi extermination, risking their own lives and that of their relatives." He who saves In the inside cover of the book, Gilbert notes that in the Talmud it is written that "he who saves a life, saves the whole world," and that this is the reason why the Holocaust History Museum at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem memorial remembers and honors the "righteous."

On presenting Gilbert's book, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, explained that the Jews' history "is a history of the good, or rather a current of good that runs through humanity regardless of religious differences." The cardinal specified that "Christians, among them many Catholics, and also Muslims, accepted -- at the cost of their own lives -- to save Jews from the Shoah. This was a great war, carried out without proclamations, manifestos, theories or rhetoric and these 'righteous' fought it at times against the conventions and prejudices of their own environment." In this connection, Cardinal Bertone highlighted the role played by Poland, where it is estimated that 1 million citizens were involved in saving Jews. "It is often forgotten that Poland was the only country where the death penalty was in force for helping Jews," said the cardinal.

He recalled the story of the Ulma family, whose process of beatification is under way in the Diocese of Przemsyl. Jozef Ulma and his wife Wiktoria and seven children (one still in the womb) were killed March 24, 1944, in the village of Markowa, for having hidden eight Jews in their home. With reference to the Church's intervention, especially Pius XII's, the cardinal said that it was not just a question "of organizing bureaucratically the search for the dispersed and assistance to prisoners. They were helped in every way possible." Silence? In regard to those who accuse Pius XII of silence in the face of anti-Jewish persecution, Cardinal Bertone pointed out: "It is clear that Pope Pacelli was not about silence but about intelligent and strategic speaking, as demonstrated in the 1942 Christmas radio message which infuriated Hitler.

"The proofs are in the Vatican archives, where one finds, for example, the 1928 declaration of the former Holy Office, very simple and very clear, condemning anti-Semitism, a document that was totally forgotten, as if the condemnation of anti-Semitism was only that of Vatican II. "The history one reads in Martin Gilbert's volume should also be known for another reason; because it is not only the history of those proclaimed righteous before the world, but also the history of those many other 'implicit righteous,' who were not honored because their historical memory was lost."

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Here is a translation of an excerpt from the book that recounts Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz's memories of his longtime collaboration with Pope John Paul II. "A Life With Karol" is the title of the volume, written by journalist Gian Franco Svidercoschi, former deputy director of L'Osservatore Romano.

The volume was recently released in Italy and will be published by Doubleday for the English-speaking world. This excerpt is taken from Chapter 35.

* * * It was 9:37 p.m. We realized that the Holy Father had stopped breathing; however, just in that moment we saw in the monitor that his great heart, after having beaten for some instants, had stopped. Dr. Buzzonetti bent over him and, raising his gaze slightly, mused: "He has passed to the House of the Lord."

Someone stopped the hands of the clock at that hour. We, as if deciding all together, began to sing the Te Deum, not the Requiem, because it wasn't mourning, but the Te Deum, in thanksgiving to the Lord for the gift he had given us, the gift of the person of the Holy Father, of Karol Wojtyla. We wept. How could one not weep! They were, at once, tears of sorrow and joy. Then all the lights of the house were turned on. Darkness came over me, within me. I knew that it had happened, but it was as if, afterwards, I refused to accept it, or I refused to understand it. I placed myself in the Lord's hands, but as soon as I thought by heart was at peace, the darkness returned.

Until the moment of farewell arrived.

There were all those people, all the important people who had come from afar. But, above all, there were his people, his young people. There was a great light in St. Peter's Square, and then the light also returned within me. The homily over, Cardinal Ratzinger made that reference to the window, and said that he was surely there, seeing us, blessing us. I also turned around, I could not but turn around, but I didn't look up there. At the end, when we reached the doors of the basilica, those who carried the coffin turned it slowly, as though enabling him to have one last look at the square, his final farewell to men, to the world.

Also his last farewell to me? No, not to me. At that moment, I wasn't thinking of myself. I lived that moment along with many others, and we were all shaken, distressed, but for me it was something I shall never be able to forget. Meanwhile, the cortege was entering the basilica; they were to take the coffin to the tomb.

Then, precisely at that moment, I began to think: I have accompanied him for almost 40 years, first 12 in Krakow, then 27 in Rome. I was always with him, by his side. Now, at the moment of death, he walked alone. And this fact, my not being able to accompany him, pained me much. Yes, all this is true, but he has not left us.

We feel his presence, and also so many graces obtained through him.

[Translation by ZENIT. Published with permission of Rizzoli International Publishers]

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Banning Catholic adoption agencies from refusing to accept gay couples is the first step in moves to ban religion from public life, the leader of the church in England and Wales has warned.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said the Government's equality laws created a "a new kind of morality" and expressed serious disappointment over the decision.

He insisted the church does not want to discriminate against homosexual people, who should be "held in respect and sensitivity", but believes children need a mother and a father.

Tony Blair ruled out any exemption from the rules for churches on Monday night in an attempt to draw a line under a row believed to have caused bitter divisions within the Cabinet.

In what he called a "sensible compromise", the Prime Minister said faith-run agencies would be given nearly two years to adjust to the new rules - due to be voted on by MPs next month. All "reasonable people" would be able to accept the compromise, he said, adding: "There is no place in our society for discrimination."

Regulations covering all adoption agencies offering publicly-funded services will come fully into force at the end of 2008. Until then there will be a "statutory duty" for agencies refusing to process applications from same-sex couples to refer them elsewhere.

The Cardinal accused the Government of telling the church it had "no place in the public life of this country" and said he hoped its agencies' work could continue.

"Over centuries in this country voluntary agencies, particularly the churches, have contributed to the common good in many different ways: in education; in health care; in adoption services," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "And now the Government, or the state, for good reasons, have taken over a lot of that work.

"But the voluntary services have continued in different ways to contribute to the common good in that public space, helped by the Government - we've been very glad of that.

"It would be a great pity, in my view, if people weren't able to act according to their conscience for the sake of the common good in our country. It would be a lack of freedom for religious conviction."

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Northern Ireland's separatist Catholic party Sinn Fein, has officially recognized the police organization which it accused of practicing protestant discrimination.

Northern Ireland has been the stage for Protestants, wanting to protect their historical relations with England and the Catholics objecting to this fight for power. The Catholics who fight for Northern Ireland to join the Ireland Republic took a historical step in the peace process with England yesterday.

The Catholic party Sinn Fein declared that they recognize the police organization with which they have been objecting to their legitimacy for years officially, yesterday.

Sinn Fein delegates accepted the existence of the Northern Ireland Police Organization established to protect the historical bonds with England by a majority of votes.

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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

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The UK government has announced there will be no exemption from anti-discrimination laws for Catholic adoption agencies, but that they will get 21 months to prepare for change, which will make it illegal to discriminate against lesbian and gay people.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, himself a practicing Anglican married to a Catholic, called the outcome "a sensible compromise". The Catholic Church in England and Wales said it was "deeply disappointed" that no exemption had been offered. The 2006 Equality Act will face a vote in Parliament in February before coming into effect on 6 April 2007. A spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement told Ekklesia this evening that the decision looked like a “reasonable outcome overall”.

Secular groups and the Liberal Democrats have said that the change period is too long.It remains to be seen whether Catholic adoption agencies will eventually hand their service over to others in the voluntary sector. A similar thing has happened in the USA, after pressure from the Vatican.Mr Blair commented: "There is no place in our society for discrimination. That's why I support the right of gay couples to apply to adopt like any other couple. [This is why] there can be no exemptions for faith-based adoption agencies offering public funded services from regulations that prevent discrimination." If the plan is approved, religious agencies will have a "statutory duty" to refer gay couples to other agencies until the end of 2008, the BBC has reported.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who has said that the churches’ agencies will close rather than adopt children to gay couples, admitted that the PM “has listened to some of the concerns of the Catholic Church.”The Equality Act, which comes into effect in England, Wales and Scotland, following its implementation in Northern Ireland, outlaws discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the basis of sexual orientation – bringing the law into line with provisions outlawing discrimination on the basis of race, gender, disability, age – and religion.

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly described the announcement as a "breakthrough" on what had been an "extremely complex issue". She has been attacked for allegedly over-accommodating Catholic arguments for an opt-out, which critics say is a clash of interests given her own faith position, and her membership of the Opus Dei movement.But Ms Kelly’s integrity has been defended not only by the Evangelical Alliance, which occupies a very different place on the Christian spectrum, but also by gay Anglican priest Martin Reynolds – LGCM’s press officer, who has brought up a fostered son with his partner of 27 years.Mr Reynolds said last week that he thought many remarks about Ms Kelly had been intemperate and unfair.

LGCM and Changing Attitude, an Anglican group affirming the place of gay people in the church, had both opposed an exemption for the Catholic Church.Simon Barrow, co-director of the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia, writing on the Guardian website last week, had argued that needing to comply with equalities legislation in the public arena “may be the best spiritual outcome for the church”, recalling it to the anti-exclusionary gospel message.

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The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales said last night that he was deeply disappointed by the failure to allow a waiver for religious adoption agencies, but pledged to work with the Government to find a way forward.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor welcomed its wish to keep the expertise of Catholic agencies and the two-year independent assessment plan.

The Anglican Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright (pictured above), said: “This completely fails to take into account the views and beliefs of all those involved. The idea that new Labour — which has got every second thing wrong and is back-tracking on extended drinking hours, is in a mess over this cash-for-peerages business, cannot keep all its prisons under control — the idea that new Labour can come up with a new morality which it forces on the Catholic Church after 2,000 years; I am sorry, this is amazing arrogance on the part of the Government.”

Andrea Minichiello Wil-liams, of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, said: “They are in danger of excluding men and women of deeply held religious conviction from positions of public importance because they will not submit to this new morality

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A CITY based Catholic adoption agency is awaiting news of its future following the row between the Church and the Government over gay adoptions.

St Francis' Children's Society faces the threat of closure after Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Roman Catholic leader in England and Wales, warned there would be agency closures if the Discrimination Act made it illegal for Catholic agencies to to turn away same-sex couples wanting to adopt.

On its website, the St Francis' Children's Society clearly states that it would not accept applications from gay and lesbian couples – in breach of the new law – although it would be able to give advice about other agencies which would.

A spokesman for St Francis' Children's Society said: "There has been no official announcement so we cannot comment at the moment."The society was set up in 1869 as the Northampton Diocesan Rescue Society and moved to Milton Keynes in the 1980s to a purpose-built building in Newport Road, Woolstone.So far it has placed more than 2,000 children.

In 1988, the society set up the Anancy Initiative to find more permanent families for black and mixed race children in local authority care.By coincidence, the society last week cancelled the official presentation of a £2,000 cheque from the Children's Charter which would provide an educational group adventure holiday for children suffering from abuse and disabilities.

The reason given for the cancellation was that the trustee had to travel to Milton Keynes from Twickenham and had been overwhelmed with appointments.Commenting on the Discrimination Act, North East Milton Keynes MP Mark Lancaster said: "The problem we have is legislation which is poorly drafted so you have to make a choice between discriminating against someone on the basis of their religion or their sexuality. The whole thing is a mess."

Milton Keynes South West MP Phyllis Starkey was unable to comment because she was in Palestine.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and the most senior figure in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has claimed that the government’s decision to refuse the Church an opt out from anti-discrimination legislation threatens the voluntary work of all churches.

Following the Anglican Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, in a speech yesterday, he also accused the government of being close to “imposing a new morality” on the country.But the UK religious think-tank Ekklesia says that it is a mistake automatically to conflate church-based initiatives in civil society with publicly funded services, and points out that discrimination has been strongly opposed by a number of Christians on theological grounds.

The think-tank also says that the proposed period of adaptation to equalities legislation for Catholic agencies gives both government and the churches an opportunity to think more creatively about the distinction between their roles and responsibilities - recognising that Britain is no longer a 'Christian country'.The Cardinal made his remarks on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning (30 January 2007) following a statement from Downing Street yesterday, which said that Catholic adoption agencies in receipt of public funds and offering a public service would not be allowed to refuse lesbian and gay couples as adoptees.The Church has been given 21 months to readjust their work in line with the regulation, which is part of the Equality Act 2006 that is due to come into force on 6 April 2006 – and which also outlaws discrimination against people in goods and services on grounds of race, gender, disability, age – and religion.

The Cardinal demurred from the proposition that the Church was in a war with the state over this and other issues, and said that its desire for an equalities exemption was not discrimination, but a determination to preserve marriage and a male-female role model for children.However, critics point out that gay adoptions area tiny minority, and that other church-founded agencies (such as the Church of England’s Children’s Society) have been successfully and beneficially placing children with gay parents. There has been little detailed research on long-term same-sex adoptions.Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor said that the Church was acting in favour of “the common good” in its education, healthcare and adoption services, and expressed the hope that an exploratory committee established with the government would find ways that such work “can continue according to Catholic principles.”

The Catholic Church has called homosexuality a “gravely disordered” condition, and Pope Benedict described as “evil” the practice of gay adoptions by church agencies in the USA – which were subsequently closed.The decision to maintain a universal equalities regime in public services has been welcomed by a number of Christian groups, including the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM).The UK religious think-tank Ekklesia said today that the crucial distinction missed by the many church leaders was between public provision and voluntary action.“Church reactions to the Equality Act, which most people see as a matter of consistency and fairness, hark back to the Christendom era when the action of government was based solely or largely on principles determined by the churches”, commented Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow.“However, we are no longer in that era.

Britain is a plural society in which the great majority of the population are no longer regular Christian adherents. The churches can therefore no longer assume that their definitions of what is right will be accepted by everybody, especially when public money is going into service intended for the whole community.” he added.Ekklesia also points out that the issue of sexuality is a heated debate within the churches, and that many theologians reject the suggestion that lesbian and gay couples can be excluded from a proper definition of “the common good”.Simon Barrow added: “Church agencies are reported to have adopted children to remarried divorcees, to lone parents who are gay, and to cohabiting couples. These all contravene official church teaching. If you are an atheist, a Muslim or a Buddhist you can adopt, but not if you are a faithful Christian couple who happen to be homosexual. People are bound to argue that this is discrimination, not religious principle.”

However the think-tank says that the “adjustment period” of 21 months granted to Catholic adoption agencies, which many acknowledge do excellent work, now creates an opportunity for a “mature and careful reconsideration on both sides of the role of the churches in relation to the government, with its responsibility to provide for all, and civil society, where there is space for a number of actors and different contributions.”Ekklesia argues that there is no general threat to church-based voluntary initiatives, but says that standing out against equal treatment in public services “is bound to cause hostility towards the church, with people questioning whether it is fit to be a state recognised provider.”

The think-tank says that instead of resisting change, the churches need to take a positive attitude to what the Cardinal described today as their "loss of power", since this gives them an opportunity to recover the dynamic of the Christian message as an identification with those at the margins of society.

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St. Blaise was a fourth century bishop who lived in Armenia and devotion to him has been popular throughout the ages.

Much of what is known about the life of St. Blaise comes from the legends about his life.

Historical proof exists that Blaise was martyred for the Faith in his diocese of Sebastea in Armenia in the year 316.

The legends surrounding Blaise state that during the persecution of Licinius Blaise was forced into exile into the hills in the backcountry of his diocese. There he lived as a hermit, spending his days in prayer and penance.

The legends say that one of the products of Blaise's holiness was that even the most wild of animals became his companions without any harm to him.

One day hunters discovered Blaise while seeking wild animals for the amphitheater and arrested him as a Christian. Blaise was taken to prison, but on the way there he interceded to God on the behalf of a child who was choking to death on a fish bone. The child was cured, but Blaise was forced to continue on his way to prison.

While in prison, Blaise confirmed that he was a Christian and was given the chance to recant his profession of Faith if he offered worship to the pagan idols. Blaise refused even after being tortured by having his flesh torn with iron combs and rakes. Finally, Blaise was beheaded and granted entrance to heaven.

Prayer to Saint Blase

Dear bishop and lover of souls, you willingly bore heavy crosses in faithful imitation of Jesus. Similarly, with Christlike compassion you cured many sufferers. Than after undergoing horrible torture, you died as a martyr for Christ. Obtain a cure for these {describe the afflictions} ills if this is agreeable to God. Amen.